Edward's Story
by bitemeplease235
Summary: When Tanya dies and ends the loveless marriage with Edward, she leaves him an infant son. Edward tries to be a good father, but he needs some help. With all of his family far away, who helps him in the grocery store one day? All-Human.
1. Baby's and Bottle Tops

_Dear Edward,_

_Thank you so much for being so wonderful to me. I am so deeply grateful to you for giving me so much, and being with me for so long. Which is why I hate to say this, because I know that there's a chance that I'm hurting you terribly. Edward, I don't think that I ever truly loved you. I most certainly cared deeply about you, but I could say the same about a friend. I thought that I was in love with you, which is why I married you. But it wasn't until we discovered that I was pregnant that I realized what love truly was. Because I felt such an overwhelming adoration to this child that I hadn't even met before that it erased any other devotion I thought was love. Now, looking back and realizing what love truly is, I can honestly say that I didn't love you…and I don't think that you loved me. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about now, just wait until you see the baby. Once you see, you'll understand, and I hope you won't hate me. _

_Edward, our baby is the most important thing to me. It's a boy, Edward, it's a boy! God, I'm so blissfully happy right now, I wish that I could tell you now. But you don't want to know, you want to be surprised, so I'll just let you be surprised. I'm writing this letter now because I've had a funny feeling for a while now, and it won't go away. It's like a premonition…but I have this crazy feeling that I'm not going to survive this child. And honestly, if our baby survives, that's fine with me. But Edward? I want you to promise me that you'll take care of him, because he's the most important thing to me now, or ever. Name him something beautiful, take care of him, love him. Be the perfect father I know you can be, and move on for me. Find the one that's right for you, because I know she's out there Edward, I just know it. Move on knowing that I will be happiest if you do. Please?_

_ Tanya_

With shaking hands, I smoothed out the creases of the cream-colored letter and threw it onto the desk. I could hear my mother bustling around in the other room, helping my infant son get ready for his first night home from the hospital. I could hear my brothers talking quietly with their wives about how they'd all have to return back home soon and leave me in inconsequential Forks, Washington alone. I could hear my father pacing on the floor above me, making funeral arrangements. I laid my head in my hands, still trying to comprehend the contents of the letter.

So Tanya had felt it too. I had felt so awful, holding my son for the first time and realizing that if this was love, I must not love my wife. I had felt even more horrible when a doctor came morosely out of the room and quietly informed me that my wife had not survived the complications of childbirth. I felt a tear slip down my cheek for the first time, full of regret and sorrow for Tanya, but none for myself. I felt so guilty, knowing how happy and free I felt because of this one letter.

"Edward dear, EJ's asleep." My mother, Esme, murmured gently as she walked into the room. I noticed her surprise and sympathy as she realized that I was crying, and before she could say anything, I held up the letter.

"Oh, Edward." She whispered a few moments later as she finished. She pulled me into a tight embrace, not caring that I was sitting down and she was standing up. "Oh, sweetheart, don't feel guilty. Honey, it's what she wanted."

"I…I know. It's just…hard…realizing how you really feel after a while." I confessed quietly, knowing that nothing I told her would leave this room.

She pulled back to look me in the eyes, through her teary green ones. "Edward, I want to see you happy again. Move on. It's what she wanted."

"I will." I promised halfheartedly. Deep down inside, I knew that it would be a while before I was truly back to normal. "Can you…show everyone else? The letter, I mean. I just want them to understand…"

She shushed me quietly, placing her finger over my mouth. "Of course. Why don't you go wish your son a good night?"

I agreed, giving her another hug as I got up. Padding softly to his room, I could hear Esme calling everyone down to read the letter. Sighing softly, I finally reached his door…and froze. I was nervous, so afraid that I'd wake him again. Deciding after a minute that I'd much rather be with him at this moment than downstairs with my family and that letter, I pushed open to door and slipped inside. I smiled when I realized that Esme had left on some recordings of my piano playing and continued to creep over to his tiny bassinet.

"Hey there, little boy." I whispered quietly as I pulled over a chair. I gently stroked his face, reveling in the soft feel. I marveled at how tiny he was, his little hand curling around the finger of my other hand. "Daddy loves you, little Eric James."

I had named him carefully, putting a great deal of thought into it. We would call him EJ for short, for Emmett and Jasper, my two brothers who meant so much to me. They were my best friends, and already loved their nephew nearly as much as I did. Eric for Tanya's father, who had died along with her mother in a fire when she was younger. James, for my father's father. Carlisle had always looked up to his father, but he had been a harsh man, looking down on Carlisle for not becoming a priest as he was, but a doctor.

"I have a secret to tell you." I whispered, not feeling foolish at all as I told my son of everything that had happened since the moment he was born. "I don't really think that I ever loved your mother."

I stopped talking when he stirred slightly in his sleep, fidgeting on his back. When he yawned slightly, I smiled at the way his tiny little nose crinkled. "But I do love you. So much."

After kissing him lightly on the forehead, I realized how tired I was. Not even caring that I was still wearing my shoes, I slumped down onto the rocking chair and fell asleep.

I was woken up at 2:30 that morning, when EJ started crying. I jumped up, still woozy from sleep. Frantically, I stumbled over to the light on switched it on. I ran over to his crib and picked him up, supporting his head carefully. I cradled him like a football in my arms and gently bounced him up and down, murmuring soothing words. A moment later, I was surprised to see Rosalie, Emmett's wife, walk into the room. I saw her stomach first, as she was pregnant with twins. Even though she was only 5 months along, she was getting bigger than Tanya ever was.

"Hey Edward." She said shyly. Rosalie and I knew each other well, but we weren't as close as I was with my other sister-in-law, Alice.

I smiled at her and went back to my frantic walk-bounce-whisper routine. I stopped when I heard a giggle, and looked up to see Rosalie laughing quietly at me. I glared at her furiously, and she smiled apologetically.

"Can…can I try?" she asked, no louder than a whisper. Luckily I heard her over my son's crying and hesitated for a second, not sure if I wanted help. My mind was made up when EJ wailed loudly a half-second later. Nodding, I watched her smile in delight and walk over to me. She gently scooped him out of my arms and made her way over to the rocking chair.

"Shh, Eric, it's okay. Shh…." She murmured softly as she started rocking him gently. "Shh…your daddy's very worried about you, you know."

I couldn't help but stand there with my mouth wide open. She had already started calming him down, and his eyes were starting to close already. Five minutes later, he was almost completely asleep.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"You weren't using enough motion with that bouncing thing. What was that, by the way?" she asked amusedly in a whisper, too afraid to wake my son to talk any louder.

"God, what am I going to do?" I moaned as I sank down in the chair next to his bassinet, running a hand through my hair.

"Edward." She said in a demanding voice. When I didn't look up, she got up and brought him over to where I was. Without another word, she set him gently in my arms. He yawned again and snuggled closer to my chest. I marveled again at his tiny size, and felt a swelling pride. This was my son, my tiny, beautiful, perfect baby boy.

"You're going to be an amazing father Edward." She told me. "It's only your first day."

"Thanks Rosalie." I said appreciatively.

"It was my pleasure. Think of it as helping me practice for later." She said good-naturedly as she walked out of the room. With a sigh, I sank back further into the chair, slowly falling asleep.

I awoke the next morning to hear murmuring voices and a brilliant flash of light. Deciding that I'd ignore the first flash, I tried to go back to sleep. I woke again when there was another flash. I opened my eyes to the third flash, which I realized was a camera, to find my entire family standing in my son's room. I heard Alice cooing at me, and I realized that I had fallen asleep with EJ in my arms.

"Aww, Edward, you two are so adorable!" she squealed. Jasper wound his arm tightly around her, trying in vain to calm her down. Alice and Jasper were the perfect pair, being complete opposites in everything. Jasper was very tall, with blonde hair and my father's blue eyes, while Alice was tiny with short black hair and brown eyes. Jasper was a very calm man, and Alice seemed to get over-excited about everything.

"Morning." I mumbled, still rather tired. I looked down to see my son open his eyes. I realized again that Eric shared my mother's and my green eyes. It startled me to see such a similar pair reflected back at me.

"Morning Ed." Emmett greeted me as he padded over and ruffled my messy bronze hair with his gigantic hand. Emmett was enormous and muscled, looking more like a bear than a man, while Rosalie was beautiful and blonde. They seemed to fit so well together that it was like they had known each other their whole life, rather than a few years.

"Don't call me Ed." I told him crossly as I got up, making sure that I still had EJ's head supported. Alice danced over and reached out her arms for him, and I placed him carefully in her arms so that I could stretch. Alice walked over to the rocking chair and resumed her cooing with Jasper at her side. Jasper shot me a thankful look. Obviously, I had calmed Alice down in allowing her to hold him. I was surprised when Alice had informed us that she didn't want a child for a while. Jasper had seemed surprised too, until a few minutes later when Rosalie announced her pregnancy. Alice tended to have some kind of freakish talent to see into the future, and I suppose that she decided she would spoil nieces and nephew's before having any children of her own.

"Edward?" my mother said softly. "I'm afraid that after the funeral tomorrow, we're going to have to leave. Carlisle needs to go back to the hospital, and Rosalie needs to be near her doctor, and Alice needs to get back so she can get started on that gown…"

I held up a hand, stopping her. "I'll be fine. Thanks for staying this long."

I felt bad for having them over here so long. Tanya had thought she was going into labor a week ago, so they had all made their way to Forks, only to find that it was a false alarm. They decided to stay here until the baby was born, since Alice was determined that it would happen within the next couple of days.

"Goodbye, son. If you need anything, your mother and I are only two hours away." Carlisle told me as he hugged me. I hugged him back, assuring him that nothing would go wrong.

"You're going to be a wonderful father." He told me kindly. My heart swelled with pride and love. Carlisle was so important to me that it meant the world when he told me things like this.

With a few last hugs and last reminders ("Don't forget to feed him, Eddie!"), they were all off back home. My parents lived only two hours or so away in Washington, in the house I'd lived in ever since I was a child. Alice and Jasper lived in LA, for Alice was an up and coming fashion designer and Jasper was a successful psychologist. Emmett and Rosalie were headed back to Oregon to their co-owned car shop. Rosalie was also a model, and planned on quitting for good after her pregnancy. Apparently, there was a huge demand for models that were beautiful and actually pregnant.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me now, champ." I told my son as I picked him up again and made my way into my house that now felt too large. Tanya and I had bought this three story secluded Victorian house in hopes of having a big family, but it looked as if that would never happen.

He looked up at me with his big green eyes, seeming confused. I chuckled at the look on his face, and I lightly poked his nose.

"I'll bet you're hungry." I said as we made our way into the kitchen to find some formula and a bottle. He seemed to realize that it was time to eat, and started fussing. I had soon realized in these past hours that he was very anxious when it came to food, and didn't like to wait.

I dug through my cabinets for a bottle, and upon finding one, began looking for the matching lid. After a five minute search, I remembered that Alice had set them in a bag, and realized that someone had probably accidentally taken them as they left. With a groan, I grabbed my car keys and EJ's baby carrier and made my way over to the car. Remembering that we had run out of formula as well, I groaned again and grabbed my wallet.

After a while, I finally managed to get him securely fastened into his carrier, despite his crying and flailing of limbs. I sped to the one grocery store in town, trying to drive and quiet my son at the same time. I sighed in relief as we pulled into the store, and I quickly grabbed EJ and rushed into the store. As I grabbed a cart and set the carrier with my very upset son in the front, I got many a curious look. This was a very small town, so everyone knew everyone, but no one quite knew why I was doing the shopping all of a sudden instead of my mother or sister-in-law's.

After a glare from a man who couldn't seem to understand that I was trying to find the baby aisle as fast as possible and didn't intentionally run the cart into his display of soup, I finally arrived in the proper aisle. I quickly stopped and froze, realizing for the first time how over my head I was.

There must have been sixty different sorts of bottles and matching lids, and many of them didn't fit the tops of the ones I already had. At long last, I found one brand that managed to fit perfectly, and I threw five or six packages into the cart, not caring that one package held enough tops, or how expensive they might have been. Growing more frantic as my sons cries grew to wails, I pushed the cart further down the aisle and found myself in the formulas again.

After realizing that I could be there for a good five hours, I dug in my pocket for my cell phone, ready to call my mother, figure out what formula to buy and get out of there.

"Damn it!" I yelled in frustration as I absent-mindedly pushed the cart back and forth, trying to soothe EJ. My phone had died, and now I was stuck to figure out what kind of formula to buy all by myself. Ready to call it quits and just start feeding him milk as if he was a cat, I ran a hand through my hair in agitation. I decided to try and hold Eric to calm him down. Now stuck with the daunting task of getting him out of all those straps, I tried talking to him again.

"Shh, EJ, shush. Daddy is trying very hard to get you fed. I'm new at this, ok? Shh…" I coaxed him as I fumbled with the first buckle. Throwing up my arms in frustration, I huffed angrily.

"Eric James Cullen, I would really, really appreciate it if you would be still for a minute or two so that I could get you out of these straps. These god-damned straps!" I said angrily in my haste to get off the second buckle. He seemed to realize that I was angry, which seemed to make him cry even harder.

"I'm sorry for being cross baby, Daddy's just very, very lost." I told him as I tried in vain to unbuckle the third and final strap. Growling in frustration, I bit my tongue in attempts to not curse. I was so focused that I almost didn't notice when a soft hand gently pushed mine away and deftly undid the final buckle.

Triumphantly, I picked EJ up, freezing when I realized that the hand must have belonged to someone. I turned and found myself instantly lost in a pair of beautiful, deep chocolate brown eyes. The woman they belonged to was immensely beautiful, with long brown hair and incredibly pale skin that rivaled even my own. I had always been pale, and I was shocked to see this woman was even paler than I was, except in her cheeks, which were flushed a gorgeous red. She seemed to be about my age, and had a maturity about her, though she was incredibly shy. She seemed to muster up a bit of courage, for she stuck out her hand.

"I'm Bella Swan." She introduced herself in a low, shy voice.

"Edward Cullen," I told her as I shook her hand, ignoring the electric shock that seemed to flow through me at her touch. "Thank you so much."

"It was no problem." She replied, blushing again and looking down. "My friend Angela just had a baby, and I had to watch him a few nights ago."

"I haven't seen you around here before." I said as I rocked EJ.

"Oh. I just moved here to help my father. He's the police chief, and he broke his leg last week on a fishing trip. I needed a change anyways, so I moved back here." She explained as she looked up again, focusing her gaze on Eric. "Can I try?"

"Sure." I agreed, surprised. I passed him over to her, who took him in her soft hands. I stared at her for a moment longer, relishing in the beautiful glow that took over her smile. She would make a beautiful mother someday. _Edward, stop now. You've had too many changes in the past week_. I warned myself to stop as thoughts of this woman marrying me, holding our child in her arms took over me.

"What's his name?" she asked softly, still lost in his gaze.

"Eric James, but most of us call him EJ." I told her, not quite able to tear my eyes away from her.

"Wait." She said for a moment, seeming to realize something. "Oh god, you're Edward Cullen, aren't you?"

Confused, I nodded. We had already introduced ourselves, hadn't we?

"My father knew your…wife…quite well. He helped with that fire when she was younger." She explained, trying not to bring up what she thought were painful memories.

"Oh." I said lamely, still trying to take in all the new memories. "Yes, I think Tanya mentioned Chief Swan once or twice."

She seemed to smiled sadly at me, almost like she was apologetic at bringing up such memories. I couldn't have this angel being sad for me, not if I could help it.

"Please don't feel bad about bringing Tanya up. She and I both realized that we didn't really love each other before she died. She still holds a special place in my heart, but I don't think that I truly loved her." I explained, wondering why I was spilling this possibly distressing portion of my life to this random woman in the grocery store.

She seemed to realize the truth in my words, and smiled in response. I could tell that she truly understood both what I was saying and my embarrassment at being so open with a stranger, so she changed the subject."I think he's asleep."

"God, how did you do that?" I asked in wonderment. Not even Esme had been able to calm EJ down when he was having one of his food fits.

She shrugged and motioned towards the formulas again. "I'm not sure, but you'd better use this time to your advantage."

Thanking her, I turned and began examining the bottles and boxes. I must've looked very lost, because a moment later, she was pulling a box off the shelf.

"Angela uses this brand for her baby." She explained meekly as she delicately set it in the cart. I grinned thankfully at her and threw a few more boxes into the cart.

"So how do you know Angela if you're new here?" I asked as she motioned for me to follow her.

"I lived here my junior and senior year of high school after my mom got re-married, to give them some time alone. I moved away to go to college, and now I'm writing for a couple of newspapers. I don't really need to be local for my job, so I was fine with moving back." She explained quietly as she absent-mindedly rubbed EJ's back, soothing him to sleep. I followed her with my cart down the medical aisle, where she picked up some pain-killers.

"Here," I said as I took the bottle. "Let me pay for this as thanks."

"No, I've got it." She argued, but the bottle was already hidden under the layer of formula and bottle tops. She rolled her eyes, but agreed and led the way to the front of the store.

"Crap." She said, her eyes growing wide as she saw a very tall, very tan man with a small woman with bronze curls. "I…let's…shit…here! Ice cream!"

Confused, I followed her down the frozen foods aisle and found her sitting on the floor, leaning against the doors to the massive freezer and cradling Eric in her arms. There were tears in her eyes, and she seemed to be holding on to her sanity by a string.

"Bella? What's wrong?" I asked softly as I slid down next to her. She stared off into space and started speaking. I'm not even sure if she realized that I was there.

"That's Jacob Black, the other reason I moved back home. He was my fiancé."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. Why would anyone end things with this amazing woman? She looked over and seemed to realize my confusion. She sighed and wiped a tear off her face before continuing.

"I…well, during high school, I met Jacob. We had been friends as children, and Charlie, my father, is good friends with his father. We started going out my senior year and were still going strong when I left for college. He graduated a year early and came with me. My last year of college, he proposed and I accepted. I thought I loved him, I really did, but there was this nagging feeling that something wasn't right. Last month, he came to me and told me that he had met someone else. He said that he was sorry, but that realized now that he had never loved me. I realized the same thing, but I was still incredibly hurt and lost. Jacob was my first and only boyfriend and I though I didn't love him, I cared deeply about him and it destroyed me. I gave him back his ring and moved back out here the first chance I got." She explained, nearly sobbing by the end. I hesitated, but put my arm around her shoulder. She froze for a second, but curled into my embrace. We were two peas in a pod, and both seemed to realize this at the same time.

"I just…I thought I was over it, but seeing him with her, just…" she explained.

"Shh. It's fine." I assured her calmly. I couldn't help but notice how right this felt, having her in my arms with little Eric in her arms.

"Thank you." She said warmly as she started to get up. I jumped up and helped her up without jostling EJ. "I needed someone to talk to."

"As did I." I assured her warmly, and we strolled to the checkout in silence. We exited the store in the same manner, only breaking the silence when we realized that as much as we felt like we had known each other for our whole lives, we hadn't arrived together.

"The silver Volvo." I told her as I towed the cart over.

"Here, let me show you how to do this." She ordered after I had finished setting the carrier in the car. The groceries were safely sitting in the backseat next to EJ's carrier.

She showed me how each strap connected and unconnected. I stared in awe as her fingers smoothly tightened the belt to fit around Eric's tiny baby belly.

"Let me cook you lunch right now." I blurted out. She looked up from EJ towards me in shock.

"Are you s-"

"Please?" I interrupted her, wanting so badly to talk to her longer.

She nodded, and I told her to follow me to my house. I watched her climb into an ancient truck and pulled out onto the main road. I found myself checking in the rearview mirror twice as much as I normally did, not able to take my eyes off this beautiful woman.

I couldn't help wondering why I was so nervous. After all, it was just lunch.

**Well, what do you think? I couldn't get this idea out of my head, and this story has been the most fun to write. The hardest too, because it's my first in Edward's point of view. Let me know if I'm doing a good job?**


	2. Piano Flavored Ice Cream

**Just figured that I'd let you guys know that all author's notes will be featured at the bottom of the page from now on so that you can read and then hear my thoughts. So here's the story!**

We finally reached the house, and when I looked back, I saw her mouth drop. I opened the garage door and pulled in, quickly opened the door and grabbing EJ's carrier in one hand and the groceries in the other. I opened the door and let myself in, holding it open so Bella could follow.

"Your house is amazing, Edward." She told me, gazing up at the staircase.

"Thank you." I told her as I hurried into the kitchen. Unfortunately, the sudden lack of motion woke little Eric, and he started wailing when he realized that he was still hungry. Without bothering to try and open the buckles, I quickly set him on the island and ripped open the package of bottle tops. I looked back at the counter to see Bella gently lifting EJ out of his carrier as I was shaking the bottle mixture. After heating the mixture and testing it on my wrist, I gathered EJ into my arms and began feeding him. He hungrily sucked it up, and I sighed as he stopped crying.

"You're a wonderful father." Bella murmured as she timidly sat down in a chair. I followed her and sat down next to her.

"Not really. I'm so lost sometimes." I admitted softly as I stared down at my son's green eyes. They seemed to be thanking me for the food, and I smiled.

"But you're trying." She insisted as she looked at the two of us. "And you love him."

"Yes, I love him. More than anything." I whispered as I reached up a hand to brush the peach fuzz hair out of his eyes. Already, he seemed to take Tanya's strawberry blonde hair color, but it seemed to be just as uncontrollable as mine. I realized how cold his head seemed and cursed.

"I forgot his hat!" I exclaimed as I jumped up and hurried towards his room. A moment later, I was making my way down the stairs with his hat securely on his head and a spit rag over my shoulder, ready to burp him as soon as I was done.

I walked into the kitchen and found Bella kneeling on the counter, trying to reach a bottle that was all the way at the top. I looked to the stove and saw what appeared to be a pot of soup simmering. My jaw dropped when I saw the row of bottles that were filled with the appropriate amount of formula, their lids tightly secured.

"Thank you." I said sincerely. She turned around suddenly, startled at the noise. Seeing that she was losing her balance, I set EJ down quickly and ran over to her, catching her just as she fell.

"I'm so sorry!" she said quickly, red in the face as I helped her to her feet. "I'm really clumsy."

"It's my fault, I startled you." I said as I made my way over to EJ, who by now was getting concerned that the bottle wasn't being held to his mouth anymore. I picked him up and fed him the last of the bottle. I rested his head on my shoulder, ready to burp him when I stopped.

"I…I don't remember how to do this." I admitted, slightly ashamed. I must have seemed like an awful father, forgetting his hat and how to burp my own child in the same hour. She laughed delicately and reached out for him, stealing the rag too. She made sure I was watching before gently patting his back and bouncing up and down on her heels as she walked around the kitchen. I marveled at how good she was at this, and must have voiced my admiration out loud, for she answered me.

"I'm not really good. I've just had recent practice." Bella explained.

"Sure." I told her wryly, and she smiled. She grinned when we both her a tiny noise coming from her shoulder, and didn't seem to notice that he had spit up all over the back of her shirt, completely missing the cloth.

"Such a good baby, EJ!" she praised him in a bubbly voice as she pulled him back to smile at him.

"Oh, Eric James, you just spit up all over Miss Bella's shirt," I sighed as I came up behind her, smiling at him. "You're just as messy as Daddy."

"Oh, I don't mind." She told me as she realized what I was talking about. I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to wait there. I ran up the stairs, sliding into my room. I ignored the right side of the bed where Tanya's things still sat and made my way over to my closet, pulling out an old sweatshirt of mine. I was half-tempted to give her a shirt of Tanya's, but that would have been amazingly awkward. I'm sure Tanya would have been fine with it, wherever she was, but Bella would feel weird, I'm sure.

"Here you go. There's a bathroom down the hall if you want to change." I told her as I traded her the t-shirt for EJ. She smiled at me and crept down the hall. I set Eric in his little carrier and stirred the soup. After pouring the hot soup into two bowls, I made a few sandwiches, not sure if she'd want anything else. I noticed that my hands were shaking.

_Calm down, Edward._ I told myself. _This isn't your first date in high school. This isn't even a date. You were married! Chill out!_

Bella emerged a few moments later in the sweatshirt, with her shirt, now wet and soggy, in her hands.

"Here, let me take that. We can wash it right now." I told her as I threw it into the washing machine.

"Thank you." She said as she brought the bowls and plates over to the table.

"I could've made the soup," I told her. "I did invite you over for lunch."

"Yeah, but I wanted to help." She said. We ate in silence for a moment, until she spoke again.

"EJ is a beautiful baby." Bella said quietly, a smile on her face. I grinned, and then remembered.

"He needs a nap." I said as I got up and started un-buckling him. She followed me, helping to pull him out of the carrier.

She wrinkled her nose adorably, and held EJ away from her. "No, he needs a diaper change."

"I…I don't think that I've ever done that." I said in wonderment. How had I gone the past two days without changing him once?

"How could you go this far without changing his diaper once?" she asked incredulously, obviously mirroring my thoughts.

"I have a mother who is celebrating her first grandchild and two sister-in-laws, one of whom is pregnant with twins." I told her as I took EJ and made my way up the stairs with her on my tail.

She laughed, and I reveled in the beautiful sound. God, I was a miserable excuse for a man. Here I am, a widower whose wife died less than a week ago and I already can't stop thinking about this woman who I've known for less than 3 hours.

She oohed and awed at his nursery, which was green with cherry colored wood furniture. Tanya had said something about green being a soothing color, but I had just been angry because it had seemed like a hint to the baby's sex, which I had chosen not to know.

I laid him down on the changing table and kept my hand on his little warm stomach while I dug around in the drawers for a diaper. Finding one at last, I pulled it out…along with six others. They exploded across the room, and I could hear Bella laughing from across the room. I turned to glare at her, and she tried to stop.

"Are you going to just stand there and laugh at me, or are you going to actually help me figure this out?" I asked crossly, trying to keep the smile off my face unsuccessfully. She giggled and made her way over to me.

"Hold his tummy carefully," she instructed.

"Wait, tummy?" I asked incredulously. "I haven't heard anyone use the word 'tummy' since I was five!"

"Exactly." She told me, despite the fact that she was blushing furiously. "He's a baby, so he has a tummy. It turns into a belly when he's two or three, and it's a stomach when he's seven."

"Well," I said amusedly. "I'm glad that I didn't mess up and accidentally call it a stomach."

She laughed again and continued on. "Now you take off his sleeper carefully, keeping your hand on his _tummy_ so that he doesn't roll off."

I did just as she told, gently unsnapping the tiny buttons on the bottom and tugging it over his head. He fussed a little when it got pulled over his head, but he didn't start crying again.

"Now, you have to keep one hand on his tummy," she instructed as she showed me what to do. She placed one of he hands on top of mine on his tummy. I was once again struck with that electric sensation, but ignored it and focused on the task at hand. "You take off the first diaper…"

As soon as the plastic fasteners on the diaper were released, the revolting smell filled the air.

"AUGH!" we exclaimed in disgust. We laughed again as we realized that we shared the same looks. Putting on a brave face, she continued.

"Then, you wipe gently, set the new diaper on to prevent…showers…and pull the old one off." She explained, guiding my hands to do exactly that. I took the dirty diaper out of her hands and threw it in the trash can.

"Then you fasten the new one, and voila! You just changed your first diaper, Mr. Cullen." Se told me with a radiant, proud smile on her face. I smiled in return and tickled EJ's tummy a little bit. He smiled up at me, and I gasped.

"He…he…he just…smiled…at me!" I said in shock. She grinned down at EJ.

"Of course you smiled at your daddy, little Eric James! You're such a happy baby!" she cooed as she picked him up and carried him off to the closet. After a moment, I followed dumbly behind her, stammering.

"But…he's never smiled at me before!"

"Well, there's a first time for everything!" she exclaimed cheerily as she pulled a fresh onesie out of the drawer.

"Bella…he's never smiled before…at anything!" I told her, trying to get her to understand.

She frowned. "Well, how old is he?"

I counted in my head. _One for the night in the hospital, two for here…_ "Three days" I finally said. She smiled again and continued to search for something. A moment later, she pulled out a new pair of socks triumphantly.

"Edward, he's only three days old! Maybe he's had nothing to smile at yet." She explained. Maybe it was just a girl thing, to understand all of these things about children. "Now, you are going to get him dressed. By yourself."

I looked at her in horror. "I haven't done that yet either!"

"I figured as much." She said as she gently set him down on the changing table again. "But like I said, there's a first time for everything."

"But I might hurt him." I said softly. Deep down, that was my number one fear. That I would be an awful father and hurt him, or that he'd get sick and never get better, or that he wouldn't wake up one morning. She must have noticed, because she was no longer teasing, but soft and reassuring.

"You won't hurt him. I promise." She said solemnly, and ushered me over to her. I followed glumly and stopped when I was at her side.

"I'm going to tell you to keep your hand on his tummy and I'll stay right here, but you're on your own right now." She told me, and after ensuring that I had a good hold on him, removed her hand. Ignoring the irrational ache I felt, I started talking to EJ as I picked up the onesie.

"EJ, this is important. I need you to tell me if I'm hurting you, ok?" I told him. He looked up at me solemnly with his little fist in his tiny mouth. I took that as my cue to start, and I gently slid the bottom half under him. I started snapping the buttons closed carefully, taking extra care not to pinch him. When I finished with the bottom and side buttons, I needed to slide his arms into the little holes. Unfortunately, he was very determined to suck on his fist. He wailed when I had to pull it out of his mouth, and as soon as I was done, I gently gave it back. Finally, I was done, complete with socks. I praised him for being such a good baby and picked him up victoriously. He smiled at me again and I felt myself melt inside.

"Edward! You did it!" Bella said excitedly. I set him down in his bassinet and realization finally set in. I picked Bella up in a hug that would even challenge one of Emmett's massive bear hugs. I didn't even notice that I swept her of her feet until she squealed when I spun her.

"I did it!" I yelled triumphantly. Bella just laughed breathlessly, red in the face. I pumped my arms in the air and ran over to the bassinet.

"Did you hear that little baby? Your daddy just did something all by himself!" I told him with exulting happiness.

"You know what?" Bella said. I looked up at her curiously. "This calls for a celebration. You put him down for a nap, and I'll go get some ice-cream."

"That'd be wonderful." I told her warmly, and with that she was gone. I put EJ sleep and turned on the piano compositions. Just as I was leaving, I realized that the baby monitor needed to be turned on, so I flipped the switch and grabbed the other one.

I made it to the kitchen and set the baby monitor down as I started cleaning up. I had just finished and was putting the carrier by the door when Bella pulled up in her truck. She got out and held up a white bag with a smile on her face, and I held the door open for her again as she came in. I held my finger over my mouth and pointed to the baby monitor before she said anything, and she smiled again and nodded. She set the bag down and pulled out two spoons from the bag. I laughed quietly when she pulled out a carton of Ben and Jerry's and a can of whipped cream.

"I realized as soon as I got in the car that I didn't remember where the ice cream place was, so I just went back to the store." She said apologetically. I shook my head, still laughing.

"It looks great."

She smiled, and hesitated for a second. I was about to ask what was wrong, when she cocked her head towards the monitor. I was confused for a moment, until she looked at me with her big, beautiful brown eyes all full of wonder. _So much for normal, recent widower with an infant son. Edward, you're a freak._

"Is that Clair de Lune?" she asked. I nodded, and she smiled. "I love this song. This recording sounds different though, more personal. Who's playing?"

"I am." I told her. Bella's jaw dropped.

"That's you? You're amazing!" she told me, her face flushing when she realized how loud she was. I smiled, but shrugged. I was never good with receiving praise, so I wasn't about to tell her that the next recording was an original composition.

We spent the next hour or so playing Twenty Questions to figure each other out. I laughed hysterically when she told me about when she literally fell into the washing machine, and she returned the favor when I told her about Emmett, Jasper, and I getting caught outside in the snow in our underwear as part of a dare. I was startled when I heard a sudden wailing noise from the monitor instead of the piano music, and assuming the worst, ran upstairs. Bella followed me, but at a slower pace. She obviously didn't see the urgency in this situation.

I burst into the nursery, not stopping until I reached the bassinet. There he was, red-faced and perfectly fine. My little boy. God, I loved him.

"What's wrong, little man?" I asked him softly as I picked him up and headed straight for the rocker. I started rocking him gently. "Daddy's here, little Eric James. Shh. I love you, you know."

I didn't even realize Bella was standing in the doorway until EJ fell asleep a few minutes later.

"You two are adorable." She told me matter of factly. I blushed a bit, and shrugged again, which was slightly difficult, as EJ was leaning on my shoulder.

She smiled when I looked down and stroked his perfect little face softly. It was moments like these that I loved nothing more than being a father.

"I think that I'm going to head out now. I've got to e-mail my newest article, but I'll leave my number in case you need something." She said reluctantly. I tried not to pout like a child as my heart sank. I hadn't had such a good time in so long, and it seemed as if my heart was aching as I watched her getting ready to leave. I got up and set EJ in his bassinet, following Bella down the stairs.

"I mean it. Call me for anything." She said firmly as she handed me the piece of paper. Blushing at her own boldness, she added on, "I mean, if you want to."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later, Bella." I said as I followed her out the door, watching her leave. With one last wave, she was gone.

"Shh…shh…I'm sorry Eric, I don't know what's wrong." I murmured frantically as I rocked him back and forth. It was currently 8:30, and I was trying to get EJ to stop crying and go to sleep. I had put him to sleep at seven, just like my mother told me, but he had woken up half an hour ago and hadn't stopped crying since then. I had called all six of my family members, but none of their suggestions had worked. He had been fed, changed, burped, bathed (I was incredibly proud of myself for doing that all by myself fin the sink, and EJ had smiled at me tickling his stomach…I mean tummy…again), and rocked endlessly. I was reaching wits end, and was now worried that something bad was going to happen. Getting a sudden idea, I walked swiftly down the stairs, trying my best not to jostle EJ and upset him more. I searched frantically until I found the little slip of white paper, and after three long rings, she finally picked up.

"Hello?" her beautiful voice floated out of the phone. I relaxed a bit more, but that was ruined when my little bundle of joy let out a particularly loud and shrill wail.

"Hey Bella, its Edward," I said in a frazzled voice, interrupted by another wail. "And Eric. Listen, I'm really sorry to bother you, but EJ's been crying for the past half an hour and nothing I'm doing is helping and I'm I getting worried and exhausted-"

"I'll be there in five minutes." She interrupted me. I could hear the car starting on the other end, so I said good-bye and quickly hung-up.

Just as she said, five minutes later she was knocking on my door. I opened the door and let her in, telling her to ignore the mess. The entire lower floor was littered with baby toys, and books, and blankets. The kitchen was still wet and soapy from the bath, and his old onesie was sitting there on the floor.

"Eric James Cullen," she said as she reached for him. "Have you been giving your poor father a hard time?"

He wailed louder in response, and she flinched in response. I ran a hand through my very messy hair and followed her into the living room. She sat down on the couch and shrugged out of her coat with her hands still holding my screaming baby. I took her coat and hung it up on the rack by the door, the plopped down on the couch next to her.

"My, my, my, you have a set of lungs, don't you?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yes, he does." I agreed wearily. She looked over at me sympathetically.

"What am I doing wrong now?" I asked, throwing my hands up in the air for the millionth time that day.

"Nothing." She said softly. I looked over at her, and she smiled reassuringly. "Babies are very fussy, and they can't tell you what they want. You're doing wonderfully."

I smiled in thanks, and she hesitantly put her hand on top of mine. I smiled back at the gesture, and she shyly smiled. She looked so beautiful when she blushed. _Snap out of it Edward!_

"I've got it!" she said after a minute of his crying with no end in sight. "Edward, do you have a piano here?"

I nodded and led her over towards the raised platform with my other baby (baby grand, that is).

"Play for him. If it helps when he's asleep, why not now?" Bella suggested. I snapped my fingers in realization and begun playing the song I wrote for Esme. AS soon as I finished, I realized that EJ had quieted down a bit. He was still crying, but he wasn't nearly as vocal.

"Edward, that was amazing. Did you write that?" Bella said in awe. I nodded, and her jaw dropped once again. She soon moved over to the couch, where she laid down with little EJ in her arms.

When I had played all the songs I knew by heart, I looked over and saw that my very vocal child had finally fallen asleep, as well as poor Bella. Her arms were cradling him gently, and they were cuddled together for warmth. After snapping a picture to show her later, I picked Eric up and carried him up to his bassinet. I got the monitor again, and headed back downstairs. Bella had curled into a ball, and my heart softened at the sight. I sighed, and then made a snap decision.

Picking her up in my arms, I carried Bella into the guest bedroom, laying her down on the bed gently. I took off her shoes in attempts to make her more comfortable, and just as I was tucking her in, I heard a buzzing noise. I looked around, and when it stopped, I shrugged and pulled the blanket again. But then the buzzing continued, and I quickly realized that it was Bella's phone. I dug it out of her (well, my) sweatshirt pocket and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Bell- oh. Who is this?" A gruff voice asked. _Chief Swan_. I realized. He must be calling because Bella isn't home.

"Chief Swan? This is Edward Cullen." I explained. "I'm terribly sorry for this confusion."

"What's going on? Where's Bella?" he asked, sounding incredibly suspicious.

"Well, Bella helped me with my son today in the supermarket and told me to call her if I needed anything." I started.

"Yes, she told me that part." He interrupted.

"Well, tonight, he wouldn't stop crying. I called my parents, my brothers and sister's in law, but nothing they suggested helped. I was getting worried that something was wrong, and as a last resort, called Bella. She very kindly came over here and helped me get him to sleep, but she fell asleep too. I just put her in the guest room, and I figured that I'd just let her sleep." I explained calmly.

"How old is your son?" he asked.

I answered, surprised by the random question. "He's 3 days old, sir."

"Call me Charlie. And I understand. One night, Renée had gone out with friends and Bella was inconsolable. I had no idea what to do…I don't know what I would've done if Renée hadn't come home. How are you holding up?" he asked gently.

"I'm doing alright, now that EJ is sleeping." I replied with a sigh.

"Well, no funny business! But I guess just let her sleep." he told me, sighing.

"I wouldn't dream of it sir." I told him with a laugh as I made my way downstairs. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Edwin." He said.

"It's Edwa-" I corrected, but was cut off by the click of the phone. An hour later, the lower lever was straightened up and I was dead on my feet. Falling onto the couch, realized that I hadn't had a full nights sleep since Tanya's false alarm last week. My last thought before I fell asleep was a prayer that EJ wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night.

**Well, here's my hugo-fatty author's note. A few things I think you all should know:**

**Edward will be very possessive in this story, always thinking MY baby rather than THE baby, etc. I mean, think of how possessive he is of Bella!**

**I was so proud of myself for coming up with that baby name. I started this story with no idea of what to name him, but then it hit me. To prevent spoilers for BD, I'll just tell you to think BD before Jacob's little car trip (which gives nothing away), plus its Emmett and Jasper's initials! I was so proud of myself!**

**Bella is a bit more confident in this story. The reason? She feels that she should try and show Jacob how fine she is, so there's a bit of a reason. Here's a bit of her point of view when she found Edward and EJ in the grocery store:**

_**I was walking down the aisles of the grocery store, ready to get Charlie's medicine and go home, when I heard a wailing noise. Thinking that it might be Angela, I turned down the aisle, ready to help out my old friend. I was shocked when instead of petite Angela and little Ben Jr., I found a Greek god and a very tiny baby. The child was flailing his arms and legs, and the man was trying to get him to stop. He looked so gorgeous that it almost hurt, with his piercing green eyes and his tousled bronze hair. He looked almost like he was chiseled out of stone. I could hear him pleading with the child hopelessly. **_

"_**I'm new at this, ok? Shh…" he murmured. A few moments of staring later, he cried out in frustration.**_

"_**These god damned straps!" he said. At least, that's all I could hear. I walked closer to hear more and noticed that he hadn't even realized he wasn't alone.**_

"_**I'm sorry for being cross baby, Daddy's just very, very lost." He apologized hopelessly. Making a snap decision, I hesitantly stepped forward and nudged his hand out of the way, unbuckling the final strap. **_

**Umm…oh yeah. Someone mentioned that they hated Tanya, and I figured that I'd explain her. Edward thought he loved her, and vice versa until EJ showed up and informed them otherwise. I don't think that Tanya is a bad person, and so in my story, she will be referred to with nothing but admiration. After all, she was Edward's wife. And to someone who said he was moving on too quickly, my response is that while he is grieving the loss of his wife, he hasn't really been happy for a while. When Bella comes in, she changes that. He's still mad at himself for moving on, and moving on quickly, but he can't change the way he feels.**

**Can I just say aww? Because writing this story, I gave ****myself**** warm and fuzzy feelings. Edward is an adorable daddy and EJ is a sweet baby. But anyone out there who knows a lot about little babies like him (I'm talking like days or weeks old), let me know if I'm having him do things he shouldn't be able to do. I'm nowhere near ready to have kids, and I was 10 when my youngest cousin, who's like my daughter, was this little. **

**All of the characters in this story will go back and forth between EJ and Eric and Eric James. For one, everyone is still trying out nicknames. After all, he's only 3 days old! Two, they are all his names and can all be used interchangeably. Three, it's like how sometimes, one person will have a special nickname for you, but only they'll call you that. **

**There will be some cursing in this story, since they are all adults who have been talking like that for a while. I'm not talking about dropping the F-bomb or anything like that, but words like shit and damn. Sorry if it offends you.**

**That's it for now. Reviews please (even anon.)? Seriously, if you think Edward is a jerk, tell me. If you love it, tell me. If you think that little EJ should just shut up, tell me. If you think that there needs to be a French speaking dwarf from Canada named Roberto, tell me. I may not change anything, but if I like the idea, I might. Oh, and visit my poll! I'll give you a virtual Edward if you do! Mwah! ;)**


	3. Viva Las Vegas

I awoke when something very warm and soft was placed in my arms. I automatically cradled it, and was surprised when it squirmed. I opened my eyes a bit to see my son in my arms, looking up at me in confusion.

"Good morning EJ. How'd you get here?" I asked him. He looked at me for a moment before sticking his fist in his mouth again.

I got up and set EJ down for a moment so that I could stretch my sore limbs. Picking him up again, I made my way into the kitchen, where I heard a few noises.

"Damn!" I heard a soft voice exclaim, and then the sound of a fridge slam. Making my way into the kitchen, I found Bella furiously beating up some kind of batter.

"Morning." I greeted her. Startled, her head shot up as well as the spoon, which splattered all three of us.

"Would you stop doing that?" she asked crossly as she blushed. "I'm going to jump out of my skin next time."

"What time did you get up?" I asked her as I sat down at the island wiping the batter off of the surprised face of EJ.

"Well, I woke up when I reached out and didn't fall off of my bed, like usual. So I opened my eyes and almost thought that I had been kidnapped, because I had no idea where I was. I was about to start screaming, but then I heard little Eric crying and realized where I was. Five minutes later, here we are." She explained with a smile on her face.

"That means its breakfast time for you, little one." I told him as I got up and grabbed a bottle. Holding him in what Emmett called "the football" position, I tested the warm bottle and began feeding him.

"Edward?" Bella asked a moment later. I looked up from my baby's content face to see her standing in front of the sink, beaming. "Did you give him a bath?"

"All by myself." I told her proudly.

"Edward, that's great!" she congratulated me. After a moment's hesitation, she asked another question. "Can…can I…feed him?"

"Of course." I replied, handing her EJ and placing the bottle in the other. I watched as she fed him, gently stroking his cheek and murmuring to him. I felt so…happy, seeing her like that. And though I knew I shouldn't, I felt like this is what every morning should be like.

"You burped him too." She noted proudly as she went over to the laundry room and saw the stack of dirty clothes.

"Yep." I said as I walked past her to grab an old pair of my sweats and a clean t-shirt. "Here are some clothes, if you want to change."

She thanked me, taking the clothes in trade for the baby and made her way to the bathroom again. EJ surprised me when he gurgled at her, and I looked at him in surprise.

"You like her too, don't you my smart boy?" I asked. He gurgled again, and realizing that he probably just needed to be burped, I got down to business.

When Bella came out, EJ had been successfully burped and was now sitting on the counter in his carrier sucking his fist again. I drew in a breath when I realized how beautiful she looked, and told myself that it shouldn't feel this right to see her in my clothes.

"I'm surprised my father hasn't called yet, much less sent out the entire force to find me." She commented as she began pouring the batter into a skillet.

"Err…weeeelllll….hekindofcalledlastnight." I admitted, looking down at my bare feet.

"Charlie knows about this and I'm still here?" she gasped in surprise. I nodded, and she turned back around again. "Well, that's good. That's very good."

A few minutes later, Bella and I were eating hot pancakes while EJ was eating his hand.

"Is that really good for a baby?" I asked when I saw him replace his right fist with his left.

"Is what good for a baby?" She asked, confused.

"Cannibalism."

She laughed at that one, which startled EJ into dropping his fist. "It's fine, Superdad."

"Superdad. I like the sound of that." I said with a smile. She rolled her eyes at me and resumed eating.

"Bella?" I asked hesitantly. It had been bothering me all morning, and I needed an answer now. "What am I going to do without you?"

She looked up at me, startled. "I'm not going anywhere."

"No, I mean what am I going to do without you tomorrow morning?" I re-phrased impatiently.

She thought for a moment. "I don't know. I think you'll be fine."

"I hope so." I mumbled under my breath. What was I supposed to say? Move in with me after we've known each other for a grand total of two days? Help me raise my infant son?_ Screw weird, Edward, you're insane._

The ringing of my phone brought me out of my inner battle, and I grabbed it off the hook near the fridge.

"Hel-"

"Edward! You have to let me talk to her!" Alice shrieked from the other end of the phone. I held it away from my ear, making a face at it. Bella giggled at me from her spot at the table.

"Who, Alice?" I asked hesitantly. After all, she might have had another crazy premonition and then I'd have to explain this whole debacle.

"The girl from the grocery store! I had this feeling that you were going to get help with EJ in the grocery store and that she'd be the one!" she said loudly. I learned a while ago that with Alice, everything was in exclamation points.

"Yes Alice, I met someone at the grocery store. She's been helping me with EJ. What do you mean, the one?" I asked tiredly, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"THE one Edward." She said, stressing the word the. "The one who'll always be there for you, the one you're going to fall in love with, the one who's going to fall in love with you!"

"Alice, I just met her." I explained calmly. She sighed into the phone.

"Men. Always so stubborn." She muttered. "But seriously, I want to talk to her."

"Seriously, I want to talk to Jasper first. Where is he this morning?" I asked.

"He's right here. _Jazzy, as soon as you're done, tell Edward to put Bella on the line, kay?_ Ok, you can talk to him." She said before I heard rustling and the deeper voice of my brother.

"Hey Edward. How's my little nephew?" he asked good naturedly.

"Was I an awful child?" I asked, ignoring his question. I could hear laughter from Jasper on his end and Bella on mine, and I scowled.

"No, not that I can remember." He laughed. "Why?"

"Because my son screamed for an hour last night. My perfect, beautiful little child of screamed at the top of his tiny and very loud lungs for a full sixty minutes last night." I said morosely. He laughed again, and I could hear Bella giggling as well.

"Well, now that you mention it, I think that you did have quite a set of lungs. I think Emmett wanted to make you sleep outside at one point." He chuckled into the phone.

"That's reassuring." I muttered grimly, which made him laugh more.

"Is that all, because _OW! God damnit Alice, was that a shoe? I…fine! Just leave that other one over there._ My wife wants to talk to you." He mumbled into the phone. It was my turn to laugh, and I heard him being shoved aside by little Alice.

"EDWARD ANTHONY MASEN CULLEN, IF YOU DON'T GIVE BELLA THIS PHONE RIGHT NOW I'LL"

I pulled the phone away from my ear quickly and sat down again, giving it to Bella.

"For me?" She mouthed. I nodded, and she took the phone, a surprised look on her face.

"Hello?" she said, and she got up to look out the window as she talked. "No, I …well, yes....I'm 23….journalist…no, sorry Alice, I hate shopping…no…..I don't ….well, what I meant was…fine."

She blushed and mumbled a final yes into the phone before clicking it off. "Alice says to send her and Jasper's love, and that they're coming up next month so that Alice can take me shopping."

"I'm sorry," I apologized with a smile on my face, remembering how awful Alice's shopping trips could be. She had declared a brother-in-law bonding day with me and Emmett and we shopped from nine am until nine pm. Poor Emmett made the mistake of insulting a pair of sunglasses, though, which made the trip last those extra three hours.

"Alice also said that if I didn't tell you this, she would make me wear heels." She said grimly. I laughed, but told her to relay the message.

"She says, and I quote, 'Edward, if you don't make her part of the family someday, I will smash your piano to bits." She mumbled, blushing furiously once more. I laughed a bit more.

"Well, that sounds like Alice." I chuckled. She blushed again, and our formerly easy conversation hit an awkward pause. I had no idea what she was thinking about, but I was wondering if I should ask her out. _Come on Edward, you obviously like her. Just do it!_ One side of me was saying. The other side was arguing. _Edward, your wife hasn't even been dead a week! Take some time to grieve. Besides, she'll think you're some kind of heartless freak._

"WWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" EJ suddenly cried, breaking me out of my trance. I got up out of my chair and started unbuckling the straps, talking to him the whole way.

"Eric James, your Uncle Jasper said that you're just like me when I was a baby. That's not a very good thing." I told him. Bella giggled at me and reached over to undo the final strap. "You are going to scare away poor Miss Bella, and then where would we be, hmm?"

I checked his diaper and wrinkled my nose. "Yep, you need to be changed."

Bella quietly followed behind me as we went up the stairs. Five minutes later, EJ was freshly changed and wearing a new sleeper.

"Edward, I told you so! You're doing great," she told me triumphantly. I grinned at her and tickled EJ's tummy. He smiled up at me again and I laughed.

"Does that tickle?" I asked him happily. He cooed up at me and I swore my grin only got wider. Bella walked over with a pair of socks and gently put them on his little feet, tickling each one with her finger first. He smiled at her, too.

"He's smiling at you, Bella." I whispered, and she looked over at him as she lightly ran her finger down his foot. He smiled again and she flushed, beaming happily.

"Does that tickle, Eric?" she asked happily. He blew a few bubbles, and she laughed. God, I couldn't tell which I loved more, her laugh or my son's smile. I decided it was a close tie when her laughter made him smile, and that I would give anything to see them like this all day.

"Oh. I'll go get that." She said after I heard a musical noise coming from near the guest room. She walked in a moment later with her old, out-dated phone attached to her ear.

"Erm, well, I don't think that's the best idea Mike." She stuttered softly, blushing a magnificent red color. I looked at her when she said Mike, and she apologetically mouthed the word editor.

"Mike, you're my editor, and I don't date co-workers." She said with a sigh, making a face as Mike continued talking. "Why can't I just come Friday? Well…yes, I know we haven't seen each other face to face in a year, but…"

I took that as my chance to interrupt, seeing as she looked more desperate to get out of the conversation every second.

"Bella, sweetheart? The baby just woke up." I called loudly. Bella looked up at me, shocked. It took her a moment, but when I winked, she saw the opportunity to escape and took it.

"That's my…husband! Yes, I got married. His name is Edward Cullen. Why weren't you invited? Umm…we went to Vegas. Yes, yes I know. Yes, that's my son. His name is Eric James. " She said proudly when EJ started crying again. "Well Mike, I'm sorry, but I've gotta go help my _husband_ comfort my _son_. Uh huh. Goodbye."

"Thank you so much, Edward. He's been bothering me for months." She thanked me as she reached for EJ. I handed him to her and grabbed the clothes, making my way to the laundry room. She followed after, cradling EJ and occupying him with a toy.

"It's the least I could do, after you've been thrown headfirst into Hurricane Alice." I replied, getting a laugh out of her.

"She's not that bad," Bella amended, hopping into a chair at the counter when we entered the kitchen.

"You're never seen her go shopping." I told her darkly. I went into the laundry room, dropping the clothes in the basket and walked out, finding Bella cooing at Eric.

"You're such a beautiful baby Eric, just like your daddy." She gushed at him, twirling around gently. I felt my heart soar. She thought I was beautiful. She liked me too. I quickly hid in the shadows again, anxious to hear more.

"I think I love you, little Eric James. I know that I shouldn't, but I do." She confessed as she touched his tummy. "Such a good boy."

A moment later, I realized that she was done, and came out of the room. She smiled up at me, and I returned the favor, hiding how gloriously happy I was. She thought I was beautiful. She loved my son. God, she was perfect.

_I'm…too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts._

"Emmett." I sighed as I grabbed my cell phone off the counter, snapping it open to stop the annoying music. Bella's laughter echoed through the kitchen and I rolled my eyes.

"How's my second favorite little brother?" Emmett's voice boomed.

"Emmett, Jasper was born a minute before you." I reminded him as I sank into the chair. Bella handed me EJ when I reached for him, and I cradled my son in my hands as I held the phone to my ear.

"Words." He said. I could just see him shrugging over the phone.

"You wanna tell me why my phone thinks it's sexy?" I asked him as I shifted EJ's weight. Bella laughed loudly again, and I could hear Emmett gasp.

"_I so told you Rose, Alice is always right!_ So who's that? _No, you can't have the phone…oh god. I mean, of course you can have the phone dearest wife._ Rosalie wants to talk to Bella." He muttered, and I could picture him rolling his eyes. After an almost uncanny repeat of this morning's conversation, Bella handed the phone back and told me she would put EJ down for a nap for me.

"Edward? You there man?" Emmett's voice called from the other end.

"Yep, I'm here."

"So you like her. A lot." Emmett guessed boldly. I sighed, knowing that the whole family would know by tonight if I told him, but wanting someone to talk to more than anything.

"Yes, I do. More than I should," I confessed wearily. "God Emmett, I'm an awful person! My wife hasn't been dead for more than a week and I'm already picturing myself marrying this woman!"

"Edward, you're not an awful person," he scolded me. "Ed, you and I both know that Tanya has been gone for a couple months now. She was never home, and she was only happy when she was talking about the baby. Technically, you've been moving on for the last 5 months."

"I…I guess…I suppose you're right." I sighed, not entirely convinced. "I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck man." He wished me as I could hear the phone click. Sighing, I set the phone down just as Bella made her way down the stairs.

"Edward?"She asked hesitantly as she rounded the corner and entered the kitchen.

"Yes, Bella?" I answered, raising my head.

"I actually need to go soon." She said sadly, her eyes wide and apologetic. My heart instantly sank, though I knew it shouldn't. Those six words felt like they were going to single-handedly tear my heart into a million tiny pieces. I tried to wipe the desolate look off my face as soon as I realized it appeared, but she must have seen it, for she quickly amended.

"Not that I want to," she explained quickly, her eyes wide with urgency this time. "It's just that Angela needs me to watch Ben Jr. tonight so that she and her husband Ben can go out. They've been planning this for forever."

"Wait a moment," I said, the names sounding familiar. "Angela and Ben…Cheney?"

"Yep, that's them. Do you know them?" she asked curiously.

"I think so. The name sounds so familiar. What does he do?" I asked, mostly to myself. But Bella decide to answer for me anyway.

"Well, he used to work for some big corporation, but he was never home. Angela never complained, but he quit anyway in order to spend more time with her. Now he runs his own business. Something like music distribution, I think. Angela's a teacher at Forks Elementary." She explained.

"That's it!" I exclaimed as I snapped my fingers. "Ben's my distributer! I haven't finished anything in a while, so I haven't spoken to him recently."

"You're a _professional_ musician?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Piano." I said as I shrugged. I had always loved piano, and while medical school had interested me, meeting Tanya had changed me. She encouraged me to stick with the piano, saying that someone as talented as me didn't need to waste my talent. I had spoken with Carlisle about it, for he would know better than anyone else what I might need. He had told me to go with my gut, assuring me that no matter what path I chose he would always be just as proud of me. My decision had been made for me when I impulsively began playing in the middle of a music store. I had left with a stack of business cards and no way out of the music business. I hadn't even looked at the piano since an argument Tanya and I had had when she was halfway through her pregnancy, last night being the only exception.

"Wait. So those pieces you were playing last night…were those…original compositions?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Edward!" she exclaimed with a smile on her face. "Those were absolutely amazing!"

"Really? Because if I remember correctly, a certain someone fell asleep listening to it." I teased. She rolled her eyes at me, but her smile didn't fade. I grinned back at her and jumped to sit on the counter.

"Funny, Edward, really funny." She said sarcastically as she opted to sink into a seat instead.

**Sorry people, but this chapter was going to be too long by the time I finished. So…I will post the second part sometime in the next week (hopefully). And one fantabulous reviewer had mentioned that I had gotten most of the newborn characteristics right except for the smiling thing (which I kind of figured was wrong, but needed some more baby fluff). Sooo (geez I say that a lot!)…for all intensive purposes, EJ is some kind of freakishly intelligent baby who likes to smile all the time. Maybe we'll say that he got that from Tanya's side of the family. I dunno, whatever you want to believe. Rather than change the past couple of chapters, I'm just gonna say that I guess in that standpoint, this story is a bit AU (that is, an alternate universe where tiny infants have gorgeous single fathers named Edward Cullen and smile too early for their developmental status.) See you soon!**


	4. Broken Down

"Well, tell Ben and Angela I said hello." I said as I walked Bella out. It felt like my heart was taking another step farther away from me as our distance increased, but I tried to ignore it.

"I will. Give EJ a kiss for me." She said softly before she made her way down the steps.

"Sure thing." I responded automatically. A feeling of dread spread throughout my body when I realized that I would have no reason to see her again for a while. "Hey Bella?"

"Yeah?" she asked, turning around at the bottom of the stairs.

"Would it be alright…?" I asked in a sudden spurt of courage. "If I called you sometime? Maybe we could go out for coffee?"

"I'd love that." She said with a smile, flushing at the attention and realization of the word love floating about in the air.

"Great." I breathed as she waved and continued on. She climbed into her monster of a truck and turned the key in the ignition. But instead of roaring to life like I expected, it sputtered and gasped before turning off again. Frowning, Bella repeated the same action three times, all getting the same results, before hopping out of the truck and slamming the door. She leaned on the bed as she pulled out her phone from the pocket of her jeans. Groaning, she shoved the silver object back into her pocket and stormed up the steps.

"Can I use your phone?"She practically growled. The look on her face was absolutely priceless, her eyes narrowed in frustration and her bottom lip being all but gnawed off. She reminded me of a small child attempting to act angry but failing miserably.

"Sure. Come on in." I told her, biting back a smile as she thanked me shortly and stalked back into the house.

"Charlie?" she asked after a moment, one arm wrapped around herself and her right foot tapping incessantly."Look, something happened. NO! God no, no accident. No, the truck won't start."

"Bella?" I asked softly, not wanting to interrupt. I had just realized that Emmett still needed to return the bottle tops anyways, so he could come up for a day and fix her truck for her.

"Yeah, I know. So I'm not going to be able to come home in time to make dinner. Well, yes, I know I'm going to have to get it fixed sometime." She said, pausing occasionally to listen to her father. "Walk."

"Dad…it's just hard." She said softly, hiding behind her hair again. "The last time something like this happened, Jake fixed it."

Oh boy.

"Bella." I said, a little louder this time. She didn't answer, so I decided that I'd just have to continue. "My brother can fix it for you. I could give you a ride until then."

"Edward," she finally responded, cupping one hand over the end of the phone. "I couldn't impose on you like that."

"But it wouldn't be imposing." I insisted. "EJ and I need to get out sometime."

"I couldn't." she said, removing her hand and beginning to speak to her dad again. "I'll figure it out dad. Why don't you just order yourself some pizza?"

"I need to use the phone." I told her, hoping that my plan would work and I could guilt her into it. She turned to look at me, and I gestured for the phone. Her eyes widened in recognition and apology, and she quickly muttered something into the phone before hanging it up and giving it to me.

"Emmett?" I said after I dialed. I saw Bella's eyes narrow as she realized what I was doing. She was just too damn observant for her own good. "It's Edward."

"Again?" he asked.

"Yes, again. Listen, I need a favor." I said quickly, hoping that Bella wouldn't snatch the phone away. Thankfully, she didn't, but she did cross her arms over her chest in an attempt to be threatening. She didn't realize how attractive it made her look.

"What kind of favor?" Emmett questioned. I could hear metal clanging in the background, which meant he was in the shop. Perfect.

"I've got a challenge for you. Can you make it up here tomorrow?" I asked. Knowing Emmett, he'd make time. Emmett had never been one to pass on a challenge, and he had eight formerly broken bones to prove it.

"A challenge?" he asked curiously.

"Yep. A vintage truck that won't start anymore for no apparent reason." I told him. I heard Bella inhale deeply and her foot began tapping a punctuated angry rhythm on the ground.

"Sweet. Hmm…I had a meeting…what the hell, I'll cancel. I'll be there at noon. Maybe Rose'll want to come and meet Bella early."

"And she could always spend more time with EJ." I agreed.

"Yeah. Besides, she couldn't wait to tell you all the sex of the babies. She couldn't wait, so we both went in yesterday." He told me excitedly. Something told me that at least one of those babies was a boy. Emmett wouldn't be as excited if he didn't get a potential sports fanatic.

"So you want me to call Alice and Jasper too?" I asked. By now, I had turned myself around to face the wall so I could pretend to be oblivious to Bella's anger.

"Why not? It'll be a party. I really don't know why we left so early anyway."He commented.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." I said before hanging up the phone. I took a deep breath before I spun around to look at Bella. Oh boy. She was furious. Decidedly adorable, but most definitely furious.

"Edward." She said angrily and I flinched. "Why did you call your brother?"

"You needed help, Emmett could help for free, and he was coming up anyway?" I listed, making it a question so that it would diffuse her anger.

"Edward, I told you not to bother your brother. Now he's coming all the way down just for me. I'm sure that's a huge inconvenience to him, not to mention Rosalie, who you said was five months pregnant with twins!" she said, throwing her hands in the air for emphasis.

"Bella, its fine. They were coming up this weekend anyway. Emmett said there was some news they wanted to share as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to call my other brother." I said, dialing the other number as I spoke. Bella scoffed at me and re-crossed her arms, but I could tell she wasn't too terribly angry at me.

"Jasper?" I asked in a moment.

"Edward? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong." I answered quickly. "Everything's great. I was just calling to see what you and Alice were doing tomorrow. Emmett and Rose wanted to start the weekend early, something about big news. You two up for it?"

"Uhmm…I think that'd be fine. Alice had some board meeting this morning, but her final sketch isn't due for another week. I think I could take off a day or two…yeah. Yeah, we'll be there. We'll see you around one." He said.

"All right. Bye Jasper." I told him as I hung up the phone.

"Are you sure I won't be inconveniencing any of you?" she asked again.

"Bella, its fine. They're always begging for an excuse to get out of work. Last year, Emmett called in sick because he got a paper cut." I assured her.

"Okay…" she agreed uncertainly.

"Do you-"

"WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" EJ apparently decided that an hour was too long of a nap for himself.

"I'll be right back." I apologized before I began jogging up the stairs. I thought I could hear the echo of feet slowly padding up the stairs after me, but I couldn't be sure. Eric could be very loud when he wanted to.

I cautiously made my way into his room, making sure to keep the noise down to a minimum. I could hear his wails echoing across the room from his tiny bassinette. When I arrived at the side, I came face to face with a very angry infant. His face was bright red and his eyes weren't open. Not a good sign.

"Shh, EJ. It's ok, Daddy's here." I assured him in hushed tones as I gently scooped him up in my arms. I could hear Bella's quiet footsteps as she came into the room after me and I smiled a bit.

"See, Bella's here too." I told him. He ignored me, wailing louder. I tried rocking him back and forth before I sat down in the rocking chair and tried the swaying motion. Bella leaned against the crib, stumbling at first when the wheels moved it back, and smiled at us.

"What do you think he wants?" I asked in concern when five minutes later he was still crying.

"I don't know. Maybe he's just overly tired and can't sleep." She said from her hands and knees, where she was picking up the remaining stuffed animals that littered the floor. Apparently, trying to get an infant to latch onto a fluffy animal was not a smart idea. It was easier and cleaner to let his tiny fingernails claw at my neck.

"You're going to be late to Angela's." I told her for what must have been the eighth time. "Let me drive you."

"And what about EJ?" she asked pointedly, gesturing to the screaming child in my arms.

"They did invent car seats for a reason." I said smugly, wincing as he screamed especially loudly in my ear.

"Are you ever going to give up?" She asked. She sounded angry, but the smile fighting to take over her features disagreed.

"Nope. Let's go." I said as I got up. I grabbed a blanket on the way out of the room and shut off the dim light, allowing Bella to exit before I shut the door with my free hand.

I pulled my keys out of the drawer in the kitchen where they were carefully placed (after Emmett lost the keys to my Vanquish, all my keys went into one organized drawer. He called it anal. I called it careful.) and walked into the garage. After carefully placing the red faced squealing child into his baby seat, I sat in the drivers seat.

"Thank you Edward." Bella said quietly as I started up the car. If you weren't listening carefully, her voice was lost over the high octaves of my son's voice.

"You're welcome." I responded as I backed out.

"So where do they live? I haven't been there in months." I asked once we were out on the main road.

"Oh, just turn up here." She said as she looked at something outside the window. She seemed to shrink down in her seat as we were passing an old Volkswagen Rabbit for some inexplicable reason.

"Isn't it the yellow house on the right?" I asked, attempting to get her mind off whatever was bothering her.

"Hmm?" she asked absentmindedly as she turned her head. "Oh! Yeah, it's the yellow one with the plain white mailbox."

"Did you notice?" she asked me. I looked at her for a moment before I put my eyes back on the road.

"Notice what?" I said.

"He's asleep." She told me with a smile. I looked in the rearview mirror and sure enough, EJ was quietly sleeping in the backseat.

"Well, that's a good thing, because we're here." I said as I pulled into their driveway. Ben and Angela had been the first people I'd met when Tanya and I moved to Forks, and we'd been friends. But I alienated everyone but my family when Tanya was about four months pregnant. She was only home to sleep and eat, and she refused to speak more than a few words to me at a time. Even then, it was only about the baby. I still wasn't sure why we were like that, but I think that it helped us both in the long run. In theory, Emmett was right. I had been grieving Tanya's loss for months.

"Thank you so-"

"Edward? Edward Cullen?" someone called. I looked up at the porch through the rain that was now falling from the sky and saw the blurred outline of a man standing on the porch.

"Is that you, Ben?" I called over the rain after I rolled down the window. Bella was fumbling with her seatbelt and flinched back when a fat droplet of rain fell on her hand.

"Hey, Edward! Come on in!" he invited.

"I don't know. I've got the baby with me." I explained. I didn't want him getting sick, especially at such a young age. I didn't know if his little body could take that.

"Even better. We'd love to see the two of you." He said, and I could make out the blurry shape of an umbrella going up in his hands. "I'll come and get you."

He was off the porch and at Bella's door in a few seconds. As soon as Bella was under the umbrella, I was out of my door. I threw my jacket over my head and popped open the trunk, grabbing the umbrella I made sure to leave in there. I managed to get EJ out of his carrier and into my arms underneath the umbrella before he got wet. In my haste to reach the dry haven the porch allowed, I almost bowled Ben over.

"Hey man. I haven't seen you in a while." He said as he clapped me on the shoulder.

"I've been busy." I explained curtly. My failed marriage was complicated, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to talk about it yet. "And now I'm even busier."

"Hey little guy." Ben greeted EJ softly, brushing a finger along his tiny hand. "What's his name?"

He opened the door and let us inside while he was talking, and I took a moment to re-familiarize myself with the cozy home. There were new things, like the baby gates and the toys that threatened to take over the room, but it was generally the same as I remembered it.

"Eric James. Most of us just call him EJ." I answered as I shut my umbrella, taking extra care so as not to jostle the baby.

"_Bonjour mes amies! My name is Roberto!" _

"What the hell…" Ben asked in confusion.

"Benjamin Andrew Cheney! Language!" Angela called from the kitchen. I could hear Bella laughing about something, so I could only assume they were talking together.

"Honey, it's not like he can understand me." He cried in exasperation as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You'd be surprised." She called.

"He's only five months old and she's already getting ready for him to walk and talk." He explained as he gestured for me to follow him into the kitchen. After a moment of fumbling with the baby gate, he gave up and just stepped over it. I did the same and nearly walked into Angela.

"Edward?" she asked in confusion.

"He gave me a ride." Bella explained meekly.

"It's so nice to see you." She said warmly. Thankfully, she said nothing about Tanya or the funeral where I dodged everyone.

"And who's this?" she asked as she smiled down at EJ.

"This is my son, Eric James Cullen. Most of us just call him EJ." I said.

"He looks just like you." She told me kindly as she cooed at him. He opened his eyes, and I tensed up, fearing another meltdown. But he merely stared at her.

"Can I hold him?" she asked. I nodded, and placed him gently in her arms.

"_Can you say oui? Oui! Oui! Oui!"_

"What the…heck…is that, Ang?" Ben asked again, pausing to insure that he didn't swear again.

"It's some new educational cartoon called Roberto the Dwarf. He lives in Canada and has all these foreign friends. He's French, so it's supposed to help the kids learn another language." She explained as she turned her back on us to stir something in danger of boiling over on the stove, passing me EJ on the way. Bella, I had noticed, had picked up a giggling baby from his playpen in the corner.

"If he's French, why is his name Roberto?" Ben muttered under his breath as he brushed past me to nudge Angela out of the way.

"Go on, honey, I'll finish this. You go get dressed." He told her as he slid her hands away from the pot. I could smell the baby formula heating from across the room, so I could only assume she was preparing a bottle for Ben Jr.

"Is it just me or does this stuff smell awful?" he asked, grimacing as he poured the mixture into a bottle.

"No, it smells awful." I agreed. I glanced down at EJ to see if he was still awake, and sure enough, he was lying in my arms taking everything in. His wide eyes stared at everything, from the television in the corner to the baby in Bella's arms. Finally, he looked up at me, his bewildered expression making me laugh. Unfortunately, the noise startled him and he began to cry.

"I'm sorry, EJ, you just made Daddy laugh." I said, still chuckling as I moved him to lie on my shoulder. He soon quieted down, gazing at something behind me. I turned around and caught Ben making a face at me.

"Oh. Sorry." He said sheepishly, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Did you want to hold him?" I asked, fighting to hide my smile.

"Nah. I've got to give Ben his bottle anyway." He said, picking up the bottle. He tested the formula on his wrist before grabbing Ben Jr. and hoisting him up in his arms.

"Come on son, lets go get you in your pajamas." He muttered as he wandered out of the room.

"Hey Bella, do you think you could zip me up?" Angela asked as she breezed into the kitchen.

"Sure thing." Bella responded as Angela came to stand before her.

"So you two met at a grocery store?" Angela asked curiously. Bella flushed at the memory of the awkward run in with her ex.

"Yeah, she saved me from a nervous breakdown." I said wryly.

"Screaming child and only two hands?" She asked knowingly.

"Add a complicated baby carrier and you've got it." I said

"Been there, done that." She smiled. We chatted amicably for the next few minutes until Ben…and Ben arrived back downstairs. With a promise to visit soon and another one to pick up Bella tomorrow, EJ and I headed home, ready to get to sleep to start the next day.

***

"My God Emmett, could you find a bigger wrench?"

"Seriously Alice, did you need three bags for shoes?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, ask Mr. Psychiatrist over there."

"Waaahhhh..."

"Shoot me now, he cries as much as Edward."

"Suck it up, you've going to have to deal with two soon."

"Good morning sunshine."

"Bite me."

"Well_. Someone_ needs some happy pills…"

"And maybe someone needs to keep their abnormally large mouth shut. Do you have _any_ idea how loud you snore?"

"Ummm…hello?" I asked blearily. Upon hearing the ruckus in my house, I glanced at the clock and discovered that it was 8 in the morning, much too early for my siblings to have arrived. But sure enough, after stumbling down the stairs, I found all four of my siblings (Alice and Rosalie were practically my sisters) bickering with poor EJ stuck in the middle.

"Surprise?" Emmett said weakly, throwing up his hands in the air.

"I need some coffee." I muttered, brushing past them without bothering to say anything. It had been a long night, and I had only gotten about two full hours of sleep. I didn't even want to think about how they got EJ downstairs without me knowing, because I knew for a fact that he had fallen asleep for the last time in his bassinet in my room and I was too sensitive to light when I slept not to have woken up when the door opened.

"Don't be mad, Edward." Alice pleaded as she bounced along to follow me.

"M'not mad. Just tired." My words sounded garbled.

"It's just that this was so unexpected! Emmett and Rosalie apparently couldn't wait, so they showed up at our loft at three in the morning and then Emmett got bored and the police were almost called…it really is a funny story. I'll let him tell you later. But where is Bella? Rose and I want to go shopping and since Bella said she didn't like to shop and didn't want Emmett to bother with her car, we could distract her with the better one. Because who really likes working on cars that much anyway? I sure don't, and Jasper doesn't, and you don't…" she babbled on. Suddenly, the walk from the stairs to the kitchen seemed miles long.

"Sorry about Alice, Edward. Emmett thought it would be funny to see what would happen if he gave Alice caffeinated coffee." Jasper apologized as he picked up his wife and threw her over his shoulder. Alice had some sort of issue with caffeine, so she rarely partook in it. But when she did, she was good for a good hour of crazy before she was back to normal.

"Jazzy! Put me down!" she squealed happily. Jasper smiled at me and shrugged before making his way back to the couches.

"Ugh…" I said in disgust. The counter was covered in some sort of white liquid and there were granules of sugar everywhere. Something smelled suspiciously of burnt rubber and I swore that my coffeepot wasn't always blue, but the coffee was hot and full of caffeine, so I didn't care.

"Sit down." I ordered them half-heartedly when I arrived back in the living room, knowing that it would never happen. I complied with my own rule before sipping the steamy bitter liquid, allowing it to awaken my senses so I could be fully prepared to start off my morning. Poor Rosalie was the only one who actually listened to me, though it was more for her comfort than mine. EJ was screaming in her ear and she was frantically trying to find the bottle to give him. I leaned over and plucked it off of a stack of blankets and handed it to her. Jasper was setting Alice down on his lap and trying to smack Emmett at the same time, who was trying to get away with something stupid.

"So why are you here?" I asked gruffly. I had never been a morning person, but it was especially true now that I was running on empty.

"Love you too, bro." Emmett said, clasping a hand over his heart in mock hurt before falling down onto the couch, jostling Rosalie and Eric.

"Emmett," Rosalie hissed in warning. EJ had just quieted down, and no one wanted to risk the peaceful silence.

"Why are you here so early?" I rephrased, taking a deep drink of the hot beverage.

"Well…" Alice began. Thankfully, Rosalie cut her off.

"At one in the morning, Emmett woke me up, talking about how much fun it would be to surprise you and how he couldn't wait to tell you about the babies. I told him to shut up and let me sleep. Fifteen minutes later, I woke up and found myself in the Jeep, bags packed, and on the way to Alice and Jasper's." Rosalie told us. Emmett nodded proudly and threw an arm over her shoulder, taking care not to move the baby.

"So when we finally got there, we realized that both of them had their phones turned off. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem, but someone forgot his spare key." Rosalie said pointedly.

"I didn't forget!" Emmett protested.

"You just didn't bring them." She retorted.

"Well, yeah, but I was too busy packing everything else! Anyway," he said animatedly. "I decided that they wouldn't mind if we tried to break in. So I grabbed one of my credit cards and snuck up to the door. I should have let Rose do it, she's better at breaking in to places. But,"

"Excuse me?" I asked. This was news to me.

"Well, how do you think we got into your room this morning? The door was locked, for some weird reason." He explained. "As I was saying…I got up to their door and pulled out my card. I kept trying to jiggle it in the handle like you see them do in movies, but it was too thick. I gave up and decided that I'd just try and knock the door in."

"So that's what that noise was!" Alice exclaimed.

"God, what is it with you people? ANYWAY, I banged the handle one last time, and it gave way a little bit. So, rather than break the whole door down, I figured I could just knock the handle off. I almost had it too, but then some guy walked out into the hallway and gave me this weird look."

"Emmett, that 'weird guy' just had to get massive plastic surgery after a horrific car accident!" Jasper told him.

"Whatever. He was still weird." Emmett waved him off, unperturbed. "So I'm _this close_ to knocking off the handle when I hear this guy talking to someone. I only heard the words 'police' and 'burglary', but I assumed he was talking about me. It took some time, but eventually convinced him that I was Jasper's brother. I'm just that smooth."

"Or it could be the fact that I stumbled out of the apartment to see what was going on." Jasper added.

"That's beside the point." Emmett said.

"How in the world did you get Jasper to go along with this?" I asked, somewhat more pleasantly. The coffee was working.

"I didn't. Alice woke up and agreed with Emmett." He said darkly.

"You wanted to meet Bella too!" she argued.

"At three thirty in the morning, all I wanted to do was sleep." He retorted.

"Well…we're here now!" Alice said brightly, the eternal optimist.

"Yeah. Didn't you have something you wanted to tell us, Rose?" I asked curiously.

"Well, we already called Carlisle and Esme and told them, and my parents could care less, but we found out..." she said excitedly.

"We'rehavingaboyandagirl!" Emmett blurted out, cutting Rosalie off. She glared at him viciously.

"I'm sorry?" Jasper asked.

"We're having a boy and a girl." Rosalie repeated, still glaring at her husband.

"Erm, Em? Don't you think you should have let Rosalie tell us?" I asked gently, not sure of how to remind him of Rosalie's wrath.

"Oh shit." He gulped in realization of his slip-up. "Rosie baby, I'm SO sorry! I just got so excited, and I couldn't wait to tell them and…I'm so incredibly sorry. I love you!"

"I guess it's alright." Rosalie sighed.

"So…what are you going to name them? Because I found some great names online and I just thought of you immediately. I knew you were going to have one of each all along, I just knew it. So I started looking for you and I found some fantastic ones. What do you think of Madison for a girl and then Matthew for a boy? Cause then they'd be Matt and Maddie and that would be adorable. Or Samantha and Samuel! Only, that would be confusing, because there would be two Sam's. Oh! But Alexander and Abigail would be great too, and you could call them Alex and Abby. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Alice babbled on. We all looked at each other in shock before turning our attention back to our little time bomb. "And I think that Justin and Jessica are nice too, but those don't have matching nicknames. The only thing is that those are all so common…and…whew. Jazz, I don't feel so good."

Jasper started rubbing her back gently and she held her head in her hands.

"Ugh," she moaned. "I never have headaches like this unless…oh my god. Emmett, when I feel up to it I'm going to kill you!"

After a Tylenol and a lot of water, Alice was feeling well enough to realize something.

"Edward, you still aren't dressed! And you haven't called Bella yet!" Alice admonished.

"EJ isn't dressed yet either." I argued childishly.

"Well, he's cuter than you are. Deal with it." She said as she tried to push me up the stairs. IT was quite comical, actually, seeing the tiny Alice trying to push the much taller me up the stairs.

"I'm going, I'm going." I told her.

"You're going to call Bella too?" She prompted.

"Taken care of!" Emmett hollered from the other room, where he and Jasper were cleaning up their "formula experiment".

"What do you mean, taken care of?" I asked.

"I mean, I called Bella a while ago. She sounded tired. Oh, and by the way, your phone needs to be charged." He said.

"Emmett…" I hissed. Deciding that it wasn't worth the energy, I walked up the stairs to get dressed instead.

"I guess I'm wearing this." I muttered when I saw that Alice had laid out a grey shirt and jeans on my bed.

"So we figured we could go shopping while the boys work on your car, because who wouldn't want to go shopping?"I heard Alice talking to someone as I walked down the stairs once I was done.

"I don't know…" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Bella?" I asked uncertainly as I came into the living room.

"Edward? I was wondering where you were." She said, sounding relieved. She looked shell-shocked in her jeans and blue blouse while Alice and Rosalie circled her. Poor thing. She had no idea what they were capable of.

"How'd you get here?" I asked, more to Alice and Rosalie.

"We got bored, so we called Bella from your phone and asked if we could come get her." Rosalie said.

"Well, good morning." I greeted.

"G'morning. How's EJ?" she asked timidly. Bella didn't do well with new people, apparently, and her cheeks were already a vibrant red. It was very becoming.

"Boring." Emmett complained as he sprinted down the stairs. "He's asleep."

"I don't know if you've met them already, but these are my siblings. This is Emmett," I introduced.

"Hey Bella." He said happily.

"And Rosalie is his wife." I said, pointing to Rosalie.

"And this," she said, pointing to her protruding belly. "Is going to be twins."

"Jasper is my other brother, and he's married to Alice." I finished. Jasper kept his distance from her, seeing that she was overwhelmed.

"Hello Bella. It's nice to meet you." He said cordially.

"Ok, we all know each other. Can we go shopping now?" Alice asked impatiently.

"Let's go." Rosalie agreed. They made their way out to the Jeep, and Emmett and Jasper followed, anxious to work on the truck.

"I'm sorry about them. They're a bit…overwhelming." I apologized.

"No, they're great." She disagreed.

"They like you." I told her. She blushed shyly in response. "Just…be careful when you're shopping today. Alice and Rosalie take it very seriously."

"It's just shopping." She said.

"You obviously haven't seen Alice and Rosalie near a sale." I warned.

"Well, I'll be careful." She teased playfully. Sure, she laughs now. But six hours later, she would be begging for mercy.

"Edward?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes Bella?"

"Could we maybe postpone that whole…getting coffee thing…for later?" She said.

I tried to keep my face from falling, but it was hard. "Sure."

"No, no, it's not like that!" she said when she realized what she said. "Its just that my editor called this morning and told me that I got promoted."

"That's great." I told her half-heartedly. I was excited for her, but I was just as disappointed that she didn't want to see me later.

"I have to go to New York for a couple of months first, and then I can stay in Forks. So, would it be alright if we went when I got back?" she explained.

"That'd be great." I told her happily. I couldn't wait for the next couple of months to be over with, ready for Bella to be back in Forks, Washington for good.

**Music Listened To:**

**A Twist in My Story (Secondhand Serenade), Night Minds (Missy Higgins), Untouched (The Veronica's), Invisible (Taylor Swift), Be Be Your Love (Rachael Yamagata), Little Saint Nick (The Beach Boy's), Marshmallow World (The Rat Pack), Book Report (You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), Better (Piano Version) [Regina Spektor], Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake), Rock & Roll (Eric Hutchinson), 1, 2, 3, 4 (Plain White T's), Gravity (Sara Bareilles) **

**Abducted by aliens? Kidnapped by Canadians? Murdered by pirates? Didn't buy it, huh? Well…I'm so incredibly sorry at the wait for this chapter. I really don't know how it suddenly became December, but it is and I'm terribly sorry. Forgive me? I've got a good idea for the next chapter, so it should start progressing faster. Just a warning, though. I really have no idea where I want to go with this story, so I don't know how fast the updates will be. Oh, and the light sensitivity thing when Edward sleeps? It's like how some people are really light sleepers, others are bothered not by noise, but by light. My friend is like that and once got 3 hours of sleep one night because the street light outside kept flashing on and off. **


	5. Airports and Introductions

It had been four long months since Bella had been in New York, and what a long four months it had been.

Bella, Alice, and Rosalie had arrived home from their shopping trip laden with their new purchases. Bella was protesting heavily because Rosalie and Alice wouldn't let her pay for her things. It was the first of their "annual" shopping trips, which were now taken every month, despite Bella's protests.

It seemed that six of us had become a tight knit group. We all found a way to meet up in New York once a month all together, EJ included. Carlisle and Esme even came with us for the latest trip, saying that they wanted to meet the woman we had all been talking about. They loved her too, of course.

Alice and Jasper announced that due to Alice's new line and the new hospital in Seattle, they were moving closer to Forks. They were now only a twenty minute drive away. Rosalie and Emmett moved as well when Emmett bought another shop in Forks. He has successfully run the two shops from Forks for a month now, and is thinking about opening a third.

We also got to meet Bella's ex when he applied for a job at Emmett's new shop in Forks. Jacob Black was the most idiotic man I had ever met. I couldn't see how anyone could even think of letting Bella slip through their fingers. Perhaps if we weren't in the situation we were in, we could have been close, but we barely spoke full sentences to each other.

It appeared that I hadn't quite come to terms with Tanya's death until a few weeks after Bella left. I had finally decided to clean out her side of the closet. I had been proud of how well I was doing and how fast I was moving on until I got to a blouse at the back of the closet. She had worn it when I proposed, and she hadn't worn it afterwards, wanting to "savor the memory". I broke down and was a mess for a week. I didn't eat, didn't sleep, didn't shower. I blamed myself for her death, for if I hadn't gotten her pregnant, she would have still been here today. The what if's ran through my head, and I don't think I would have pulled out of the depression if it weren't for EJ. I became better, though I was more hesitant and cautious about everything.

Rosalie had gone into labor after eight months of pregnancy. She lasted long than any of the doctors said she would, and after three hours of labor, Vera Esme and Henry Carlisle were born. They were a very healthy four pounds and twelve ounces and five pounds and seven ounces, respectively. Vera already had Rosalie's eyes, and Henry shared Emmett's curly dark hair. Both parents were proud and happy, and both were more than ready to show them off to Bella.

Eric James Cullen was my pride and joy. He smiled at least eight times a day, and I had already filled up three memory cards worth of pictures. He cried less now and babbled more. His favorite thing to do was to roll over on his back, and he refused to nap without sucking on his pacifier. He couldn't sit up by himself yet, but he did love to sit on my lap when I played piano. He accompanied me to New York for the last visit, and Bella cooed over him for hours. They shared a special bond, and it was obvious that EJ thought of Bella as his mother.

We all waited in the airport now, save for Carlisle and Esme, ready for Bella's plane to arrive. Rose and Emmett had appointed Alice and Jasper to look-out duty, for they were too busy keeping the twins occupied. They were one month old, and Bella hadn't seen them yet.

"Are planes usually this late?" Chief Swan grumbled from next to me. He was happy that Bella had fit into a new group of friends; he still felt bad that she had to move down to help him. He positively enamored with Alice, and was still hesitant around me. I think he was just worried that Bella would fall in love and get hurt again.

"I don't know Chief." Jasper said.

"What are you doing over here? Go look for her! Shoo!" Rosalie ordered.

"Your aunt is crazy." I told EJ. He was sitting on my lap, sucking on his pacifier and surveying the busy airport with wide eyes.

"I heard that." She said.

"It's all that Mike character." Chief Swan grumbled. I fought to hide my smile. Bella had been planning on coming home two months ago, but her editor had requested a follow up. Bella, being the kind person she is, couldn't refuse. When I had spoken to her earlier in the week, she complained about missing her home. I couldn't blame her.

"Seriously, she'd better get here soon or else we're going to have some cranky twins." Emmett said. He had softened as a father, and what he lacked in patience, he made up for in heart. He was determined to give his children the best life possible, no matter the cost. He was still the same childish, immature Emmett we had always known, but nothing could keep him from his family.

"_Flight 249 from New York now arriving. Flight 249 from New York now arriving." _A nasally voice droned from the intercom system.

"That's her! That's her! That's…a weird lady with a uni-brow. Eww…"

"No, _that's_ her…or a very small man dressed in drag."

"That's…oh, thank God that's not her. That woman has no taste."

"Look kids, no offense or anything, but I know my daughter when I see her and that is definitely h…not. I meant to say that is definitely not her."

EJ and I remained in our seat, leaving me more time to laugh at their guesses. The final woman to walk by had been hanging off the arm of a man with no shirt and a _Mom_ tattoo. I heard someone's quiet steps behind me, and I heard someone plop themselves down onto a chair next to mine. I glanced over and found a very tired looking Bella herself.

"Hey g-"

"SHH!!!" Bella clapped a hand over my mouth and shushed me. I looked at her in confusion, trying to ignore the feeling of her soft fingers over my lips.

"Don't tell them I'm here yet. I need a second to prepare." She whispered.

I nodded, and she removed her hand and slumped back in the uncomfortable chair. Rose and Emmett were trying to occupy Vera and Henry as they searched for Bella, and Alice had somehow gotten onto Jasper's shoulder. Charlie was up at the desk, making sure that her flight arrived. We would have been fine for another minute or two, if EJ hadn't decided he was bored.

"Ow!" Bella shot up a second after the pacifier hit her head. "Eric sweetheart, I already have a headache."

"Bella?!?" Four heads swung around to look at us incredulously.

"Found her." I said warily, unsure of how draining this experience would be for the weary traveler.

"Bella!!! I'm so happy to see you!" Alice said as she hopped off Jasper's shoulders and ran over to Bella, enveloping her in a hug.

"Me too, Alice." Bella said as she hugged her back.

"Hey there Bella. It's good to see you again." Jasper said jovially as he pulled Alice a safe distance away. He could tell how tired she was and decided to remove as much stress as possible.

"Hey Jasper. Where's Rose and Emmett? I want to see the babies." Bella said. She was trying to act upbeat, but she looked absolutely dead on her feet.

"Hey Bells." Rosalie said softly, one arm cradling her daughter and the other gently leading Emmett to the right direction. He was too busy trying to get Henry to sleep to notice anything.

"Oh, Rosalie. She's beautiful." Bella breathed as she set eyes on Vera.

"This is Vera Esme Cullen." Rosalie introduced. "And that is Henry Carlisle Cullen."

"They're perfect, Rose." She whispered reverently. Vera stared back at her with her wide blue eyes and Bella smiled.

"Oh! Hey there Bella!" Emmett whispered loudly when he realized who was there.

"Bells?"

"Dad?" Bella's head shot up as she glanced around, searching for the familiar voice.

"Hi Bella, I got your luggage." The Chief said as he awkwardly shuffled three suitcases over.

"I didn't think you were coming." Bella said softly. She walked up to him and gave him a hug. After a second, he wrapped his arms around his daughter's slim frame. His cheeks turned a red color, and in that second, they had never looked more alike.

"It's nice to have you home. And hey, I got the cast off." He said, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Have you been going to physical therapy like you're supposed to?" Bella threw back immediately.

"Oh. Well…um. You see…erm…" He sputtered.

"That would be a no." She decided. "That's going to change."

"Back and in business." Charlie grumbled, rolling his eyes. "You're more of a parent than I am."

"You're a great parent, Ch-dad." Bella disagreed. She seemed to wilt as she stood, drooping more and more with each passing second.

"It looks like Bella's tired. How bout we head home?" I suggested as I shifted EJ and grabbed Bella's carry on bag. She glared half-heartedly, but did nothing to stop me.

"Sounds good to me. These two need to get to bed. I didn't realize when they said 4, they meant 7." Rosalie said wryly as she readjusted Vera's little designer hat.

"Oh, I'm sorry guys. You didn't have to wait for me." Bella said.

"C'mon Bells, it's half the fun!" Emmett boomed, momentarily forgetting the tiny sleeping child in his arms. Henry began crying loudly and the look on Emmett's face was priceless. "Uh-oh. Shh, Henry, Daddy's sorry. Shh…"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and bade us good night before swaying out towards the parking lot, Emmett following in her footsteps.

"Well, we should probably get going too. Jazz has got a new patient in the morning at some ridiculously early time-"

"Alice honey, five isn't ridiculous." Jasper interjected, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"It's before the sun rises!" she protested.

"Alice…he thinks…he thinks he's a vampire." Jasper muttered quietly.

"A vampire?" Alice hooted. "Now _that_ is ridiculous!"

"And what happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?" I asked wryly. Jasper shot me a frantic look, urging me to keep quiet. Alice had an interesting past, and the only thing she asked of Jasper was for them not to keep secrets. Since Jasper was a psychiatrist, this was a constant problem. Usually, he told her the gist of the patient's problem and if it got resolved, nothing more. I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled in relief.

"Alice is right though, we do need to be going. It's nice to have you home, Bella." Jasper said warmly before they turned to follow Emmett and Rose. _And then there were four…_

"Here dad, let me take one of those."Bella said.

"No, I've got it. Why don't you and Edwin-"

"Edward." She corrected.

"Right, Edward," he said sheepishly. "Go and get the car. I'm sure he wants to get his little one home soon too."

"You two drove together?" She asked skeptically.

"It hardly made sense to drive two separate cars when we only live a few minutes away." I shrugged. Chief Swan nodded in agreement, and Bella eyed the two of us suspiciously.

"Kay." She said, though it was clear the subject was far from dropped.

"I'll wait by the doors." Chief Swan said as we walked off.

"Can I hold him?" Bella asked after a moment of silence. I looked at her in confusion for a moment before she giggled.

"The baby, Edward. Can I hold EJ?" she rephrased.

"Of course," I chuckled as I passed him to Bella. She cooed at him for a second and he happily gurgled back, grabbing at her fingers with his sticky ones.

"He's really grown." She mused.

"It has been four months." I pointed out.

"What did my dad say to you?" she asked suddenly.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"You know what I said. What did he talk to you about?" She asked, glaring at me. EJ grew tired of being ignored and began grabbing at various locks of Bella's hair.

"No Eric, what did Daddy tell you about pulling on hair?" I scolded, reaching over and replacing her hair with his pacifier.

"And now you're changing the subject. Stop that and answer me." She demanded.

"He's just being a concerned parent." I told her, hoping that would end it.

"And?" She asked expectantly.

"And…he told me about Jacob Black." I confessed. She flushed and groaned, obviously not happy about that particular admission. "But it's not that bad! You told me the simple version and he told me a few more hairy details, that's all."

"Look, can we just forget that he ever said anything about that? It was in the past and I just want to forget about it." She plead as she ducked out of the way of EJ's pacifier, which was on a dangerous collision course with her eye.

"I'm not going to judge you on your past, just as I hope you won't judge me on mine." I promised.

"I wouldn't dream of it." She insisted. We walked to the car in amiable silence, and I noticed how Bella seemed to droop more and more with each step she took.

"Long flight?" I asked sympathetically.

"You have no idea." She groaned. I grimaced sympathetically. I had been on multiple awful flights, raging from a screaming infant to the large sweaty man sitting next to me who had vomited profusely during takeoff and any turbulence.

"Screaming baby?" I guessed.

"I was sitting in the middle of a couple in the midst of a nasty divorce. The woman was pregnant with either the pool boy's child or the personal trainer's child, and the man was trying to run off with his step-daughter, who was engaged to said pool boy." She shuddered.

"That's…disgusting."

"Especially considering that this was a couple in their mid-fifties."

"That's…really unnecessary."

"Needless to say, I'm exhausted." She said with a wry smile. I chuckled and move to dislodge the pacifier from Bella's hair.

"Eric James Cullen, you are not being very good today." I scolded him again. Bella laughed, and I realized just then how much I missed that musical noise. EJ smiled up at her and she gave him an Eskimo kiss, giggling once more.

"No, he's fine. He's already made my day so much better." She said happily. I grinned, feeling incredibly happy to have our skewed family of nine together again. Of course, no one would be able to tell for how long, since Bella might kill us for the surprise welcome home party tomorrow, but I would enjoy the bliss for as long as I could.

"After you," I said as I opened the exit door in a horrible British accent, earning another addictive laugh from Bella. We laughed and joked all the way back to the car, enjoying being two old friends catching up again. I helped Bella into the backseat after EJ was carefully buckled into his carrier and started the car. We drove up to the doors in silence, and when I glanced back, I noticed Bella nodding off.

Chief Swan and I sat in awkward silence all the way back, fearing that any noise would wake either Bella or EJ, who were both fast asleep. When we arrived back at the Chief's house, we made sure to shut our doors very quietly. After unloading the luggage at the front door, Chief Swan went back to the car to wake up Bella. But when I arrived at his side, she looked too peaceful to wake up. I unbuckled her seatbelt and scooped her up in my arms. Chief Swan shot me a glare, but after looking down at his sleeping daughter, he opted to say nothing.

"Where should I set her down?" I whispered once the Chief and I were inside his house. He grumbled incoherently for a moment or two while he took off his coat.

"Upstairs, first door on the left." He mumbled, shooting me a warning look. It was clear that he was not happy to have a man escorting his daughter up to her bedroom.

"Thanks," I said in a hushed voice as I started up the stairs.

Once I arrived at the correct door, I had to fumble for a moment to support Bella's head and open the door, and she stirred.

"Whaa…?" She mumbled in a thick, sleepy voice.

"Shh, Bella. Go back to sleep." I told her gently. She complied, resting her head on my chest and clutching onto my shirt with tight fists. I smiled down at her and pushed the door open with my shoulder. I had to stop for a moment and inhale the aroma that was wafting through the room. It smelled like strawberries and freesia and happiness. Just like Bella.

The real problem occurred when I tried to set her down on her bed. She laid down and cuddled into the pillow, but refused to unclench her little hands. I tried to just walk away, but her hands were gripped too firmly. In the end, I had to pry each of her fingers away from my shirt and wrap them around her blanket before she relaxed. I straightened out, smoothing my shirt in the process, and surprised myself when I bent down to kiss her forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Bella." I wished her before shutting off the light and closing the door. After bidding Chief Swan a good evening, I made my way back home.

***

The next morning, EJ and I were supposed to go over to Emmett and Rosalie's place to babysit Vera and Henry for a while so that they could meet with an advertising company. Emmett's garage was taking off and he was starting to look into giving business that extra push so he could try and open another one.

Unfortunately, as soon as I got EJ to bed, I fell asleep. Without setting my alarm. So I woke up with a start five minutes before we were supposed to be at Emmett's. The drive alone would take fifteen minutes, much less getting ready.

"Shit!" I cried as I looked at the clock through bleary eyes. I leapt out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom, determined to make it to Emmett's in twenty minutes. I saved time by brushing my teeth while I was in the shower, and I threw on sweats as soon as I toweled off.

_I'm…too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts._

"Emmett." I growled. The phone was nearly done ringing by the time I got to it, so I was running low on patience.

"What?" I snapped.

"God Edward, who killed your puppy?"

"Emmett, I'm running late. If you need to get your meeting, I have to go…"

"That's what I was calling about." He interrupted. "The meeting isn't going to start for another half-hour."

"In that case, I'll see you soon. Bye." I said quickly, hanging up.

"Five minutes, five minutes, five minutes…" I muttered incoherently under my breath as I raced around the house, trying to grab everything I'd need for the day. In my haste, I knocked over a pan that was sitting on the stove, unwashed and filled with day-old pasta. The clatter it made caused EJ to wake up and freak out.

His little screams echoed in the normally silent house, and I raced up the stairs to grab him and a change of clothes and race off.

"Shh, EJ, Daddy's here. Everything's fine." I told him as I crept over to his crib. He continued to cry, despite my pleas. In fact, he never stopped. Twenty minutes later as I sped into Emmett's driveway, he was still crying, though a bit more quietly.

"Edward!" Rosalie cried as soon as I got to the door. She had somehow managed to open the door with the twins in her arms, and unfortunately, they were crying too. "Thank God you're here! Emmett left thirty seconds ago and I need to go follow before the meeting starts!"

I half-smiled and tried to avoid letting the section of my hair that managed to still be wet drip on EJ and make him more upset as I jogged into the house. As quickly as I could, I set EJ down in one of the baby swings set up in their living room and ran back to grab the twins. As soon as Rosalie gave them a kiss n their foreheads, she all but sprinted out the door.

I blew that wet chunk of hair off my forehead and shut the door before slowly turning around. There were three screaming infants locked in a house with me for who knows how many hours.

God help me.

**So this is shorter than usual, but I wanted to get it posted. And yes, I should be forced to live with that annoying chick on American Idol (I think her name is Tatiana?) for several days at least cause once again, I was a crap updater. **


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